I was pleasantly surprised by this book! There were so many moments where I caught myself smiling, kicking my feet, and doing little shrieks of joy because it was just so damn cute.

Flirty Dancing reminded me a lot of David Levithan’s Boy Meets Boy. It gave me that same kind of joy. Under all the chaos and drama (and there’s a lot of it), there’s a sincere story about second chances, queer identity, and figuring your life out when it feels like you’ve already missed the window.

And Mateo… oh Mateo. Grrrrrrrr. He’s moody and dramatic and somehow still completely irresistible.

It’s messy in the best way, full of campy dancer drama, flirty moments, and just enough heart to make you feel things. LOVED IT!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the advance reader copy and to Macmillan Audio for the complimentary audiobook. These opinions are my own.

Are you looking to escape for the summer? This book is a getaway to a summer resort. And it feels a lot like an adult summer camp.

Archer is trying to break into dancing on Broadway, but at 27, he feels he may be too old. He's not getting any callbacks. So when he is offered the chance to dance all summer at Shady Queens, a queer resort in the Catskills of NY, he leaps on it. And then he learns that his teen crush and former Broadway star, Mateo, is also dancing there.

This book does include a love triangle that lasted longer than I preferred. But on the plus side, it was always entirely clear to me (both from the book and from the marketing materials) who Archer should end up with.

My favorite aspects were the dancing and camp feels. I could picture myself there and even went through my mom's old photos from camps in the area. There's a lot of drama, and some of it took a bit away from the romance. But it was a fun read with a lot of nostalgia built in.

3.5 stars rounded up

As someone who loves theater, I was excited for this book, and it was such a fun summer read! It has the essence of Dirty Dancing but it's queer and felt like it went a little deeper! The pace was great, and it was a quick read! All of the side characters were well fleshed out, even when they weren’t being focused on. I liked the main characters but at times a lot of the characters, excluding Mateo, felt immature for their age. They were still easy to root for but oftentimes they felt younger than they were. The book is exactly what it promised, which was a joyful, light queer summer romance full of pining, performances, and personal growth.

I'm really not sure how I feel about this. I was really excited for this because the concept sounded like something I would love. The book fell really flat for me.. The writing was good but the characters really ruined it for me. The characters were very childish and then to learn the characters are in their late 20's?! I was incredibly disappointed in the characters and while they developed really well.. 65% of the book was the characters being ROUGH. I'm disappointed with this one and would love to give Jennifer Moffatt another try as the writing was enjoyable.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for an electronic advanced readers copy of this novel.

Flirty Dancing by Jennifer Moffatt is a fun and entertaining book about a 27 year old male dancer who moved to NY to pursue his dream of being a professional dancer. Archer Read is losing hope and thinking about moving back to Ohio to become an accountant when he lands a role in a summer resort camp in the Catskills. Shady Queens is a queer-friendly resort and while he proclaims to not get involved with anyone, he soon enters a romance with Caleb while exchanging sexy dances and looks with ex-Broadway (and disgraced) star Mateo.

I really enjoyed this, it was fun and I loved all the dance descriptions!

Picked this up on Netgalley even though I'm not the biggest Dirty Dancing fan. But queer dancer romance? Come on! But then I ended up wanting to escape to a queer mountain resort badly, because what a vividly cozy picture of people whose dreams have taken a detour to a place where they can heal or act out or hone their passion in a safe space. As far as I can tell there isn't a lot of narrative resonance to the movie Dirty Dancing, beyond a passing reference to THE SONG. For the most part, it's focused on the lives of the performers and the guests are largely set dressing. Not kidding, even the Catskills are more of a character than the fact that the main characters are employees of this place. The only names guests are friends of the performers, and exist to support their narratives. I appreciated that while the romance and the horniness was overt, the sex scenes weren't explicit. Overall, it's not particularly groundbreaking or anything, but a cozy queer late life coming of age romance of sorts, and that's what I need as a palate cleanser right now.

3.5 ⭐️
(E-ARC generously gifted by St. Martin’s Press - thank you!)

This was a quick, fun, and flirty read; the perfect way to kick off my Pride Month lineup! As a theatre lover, I was immediately drawn in by the world of performance, even though this story leans more into the dance part over the drama. It had that irresistible "Dirty Dancing, but queer" energy that kept things entertaining from start to finish.

The characters were easy to root for, though at times it was hard to remember they were adults. Their behaviour occasionally skewed more teenager than grown adult. That said, Archer was undeniably lovable. He had this wholesome, golden-retriever energy, especially in his interactions with his roommate and castmates. Did he make some questionable dating choices? Absolutely. But who hasn’t? It was easy to see he always meant well.

Mateo, on the other hand, was the one character who really felt his age. His somewhat grumpy, guarded energy made sense given his backstory, and I appreciated his growth throughout the novel. Even at his prickliest, I never found him unlikable.

While Flirty Dancing didn’t break new ground, it delivered exactly what it promised: a light, joyful, queer romance full of performance, pining, and some personal growth. My main critique lies in the lack of maturity in some character interactions, which occasionally pulled me out of the story.

Still, I had a good time reading it, and it’s a solid pick for anyone who enjoys dance, theatre, or LGBTQIA+ romances with a lighter tone.

📚 Available now online and at your local bookstore!

Thank you again St Martins Press ( and net-galley for facilitating the e-book download)

As someone who normally can't stand cheesy romances... this one was actually pretty good, I can't lie. Loosely based off of Dirty Dancing, Flirty Dancing follows Archer, a 28-year old accountant trying to make it as a dancer in NYC. Finding that he isn't getting hired anywhere, he takes the only option he has to dance at a summer camp up in the Catskills. There he meets Mateo, a sexy ex-Broadway star that Archer used to be obsessed with until Mateo disappeared from the limelight in a scandal. Now they are forced to dance together.

The story was actually really cute, there were no obnoxious third-act break-ups between our main couple, and the majority of the characters were pretty mature and communicative with each other. There were some bits that annoyed me like every other romance book, but overall this was a very solid read and especially great to read during Pride month!

Dirty dancing has never. Been my favorite movie, but taking a queer twist was an interesting and intriguing way of playing with the original story and I found myself really enjoying the changes made

Archer is trying to chase his dreams, but audition after audition goes nowhere. Pretty soon, he’s going to have to give it all up, move back to Ohio, and find another job as an accountant. But Archer was born to dance, and one more audition lands him a summer gig as a dancer at Shady Queens, an LGBTQ+ friendly resort in the Catskills.

To Archer’s surprise, Mateo Dixon is also there. Mateo used to be all the rage on Broadway, but after a fairly public crash out, he disappeared. Archer had a childhood crush on the Broadway star and is definitely star-struck. But Mateo is grumpy and gruff and seems to hate everyone.

As Archer settles in, he starts a relationship with fellow castmate Caleb, but it doesn’t feel quite right. And as the days continue on, Mateo and Archer grow closer. They support each other and lift each other up. And when they dance together, its pure sex and magic.

But drama is not far away. Archer and Caleb break up, other cast members have their own problems, and a secret is aired publicly as a bit of revenge. The show is suffering and Mateo is hurt, and Archer just wants to make things better. Slowly and surely, they find their feet again, and in the process, Archer and Mateo find their happily ever after.

This is a new-to-me author and I took a chance as soon as I saw it was reminiscent of Dirty Dancing. Moffat does a good job with a fun cast of characters, an interesting setting, and a relatable premise. But this book wasn’t without its problems for me.

As much as I enjoyed Archer, he’s the only POV character, and I thought the book was lacking a little from not getting Mateo’s POV as well. It’s his story as much as Archer’s, and I would have liked to see his thought process as well. However, I will say that Archer is a great character and following his journey as he makes his dreams come true was pretty rewarding. He’s only been at it for five months, and ready to give up. To be fair, considering how long it takes to make it on Broadway, I felt this time frame was far too short. However, considering Archer’s mindset and where he came from, it also made sense.

The story has good banter and a fair bit of drama, but it’s the fun kind that shows up when you have a group of twenty-something dancers all together at a resort. I could have done without the Archer/Caleb plot line, as it didn’t really add much to the story. The big conflict moment could have been believable even without it. If this part had been explored further, it would have made more sense, but it felt very “on the surface” and so it didn’t add to the story in any really meaningful way.

In the same vein, the chemistry between Archer and Mateo was off the charts from the start, but it took them far too long to get together, in my opinion. I liked the slow burn aspect of it, and I loved them first becoming friends, and then more. But it was too far into the story before they really got into it, we had to take Mateo’s word for when his feelings began, and it just felt like something was missing there. I would have liked to see a bit more focus on their interactions or perhaps the interactions could have been explored more.

But despite that, it was a decent book that played out fairly well. It’s long, and I think it could have benefited from some tightening up in some places, but for the most part the pace was spot on. There are definitely some fun moments and the HEA is very satisfying. In the end, this book is a bit of a mixed bag for me, but if you’re looking for a fun summer read, then maybe check this one out.

Never seen Dirty Dancing, so a lot of the allusions/references were probably lost on me. Still enjoyed the setting and the premise with the summer resort. Felt like the book spent too much time on the Caleb relationship, which was clearly going nowhere.

This was sweet, sexy and totally engrossing. I love a good queer romance, and I thought the chemistry between the leads was perfect.

A really fun will they won't they summer read. Really enjoyed that it was set at a summer camp in the Catskills. Could not recommend this beautiful story about Archer and Mateo more.

Yes! Yes! Yes!
this book was a joy to read! As someone who watched Dirty Dancing at least a dozen times growing up, it was so nostalgic.
I would love to read more from this author!

4/5☆
1/5 🌶

This was a sweet, low stakes romance. Easy to dive into and read in one sitting. I think I expected a little more about the romance, but I was okay with it being a closed door romance. Just expected a bit more after the yearning.

A very charming queer retelling of Dirty Dancing, with plenty of Easter eggs for those of us who love the movie! I spent part of the book wishing it were dual POV, because I wanted Mateo’s perspective on the story—but in the end, I think I was perfectly satisfied only seeing the summer through Archer’s eyes. A great summer read!

This is such a fun m/m romance between an accountant from Ohio who is trying to break in to Broadway and a former Broadway star whose been through a rough patch. They both find themselves performing in a cabaret in the Catskills and well…. Over the tango, they fall in love, duh. It was excellent on audiobook! Thanks to the publisher for the copy via NetGalley!

So this was cute, but it definitely needed some work.

Archer is 27 and making a career change, going from being an accountant to moving to New York to be on Broadway. With no success at all, he finally books a show as a dancer at a resort in the Catskills for the summer, and when he arrives, is surprised to find that an old Broadway performer, Mateo, he had a crush on when he was in high school is also in the show. Mateo was basically blacklisted from Broadway years ago and is brooding in the Catskills.

The relationship builds between Archer and Mateo, but Archer ends up with Caleb first. Instead of a third act breakup, we get a series of dramatic moments, dancers being late, relationship drama, media scandals, and cheating.

Everything feels very surface level, we have a lot of characters but nothing gets too deep. They’re hiking and partying and no one seems to care about this show that much except for Mateo.

Once Archer and Caleb finally split maybe halfway through? It feels like the novel finally gets started, but it’s already almost over.

The second half is fine, but the ending is so weird, there’s a random thing that happens with a random side character at like 96% that made no sense why it was in there. Archer has a random friend we get calls from occasionally trying to propose to her girlfriend but it adds nothing to the storyline.

This just didn’t really feel finished. All the drama felt more summer camp with teenagers than adults in their late twenties/thirties. The main story was there, and could have been really great, I think maybe the writing just wasn’t strong enough and could have used some editing to tighten it up.

If you’re looking for something light, super quick read, you could pick this one up.

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Flirty Dancing follows Archer Read as he finally lands a job to hopefully help him on his journey to become a Broadway dancer: working at a queer-friendly resort in the Catskills. When he arrives for his first day, he sees his teenage celebrity Broadway crust, Mateo Dixon.

This was an overall enjoyable read, with a lot of drama that felt realistic to the close-quarters of a resort like Shady Queens. The relationships they all had with each other way my favorite part. Not only did the main characters create a strong relationship between each other, but also with their coworkers and even resort guests. I would recommend this for someone who is looking for a quick summer romance full of messy drama and heartfelt queer characters.

Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for a copy of Flirty Dancing in exchange for my honest review. Rounded up from 3.5 stars. Gay summer resort in the Catskills with broadway style performances??? Sign me up. This was giving dirty dancing but instead following only the staff. I was rooting for Archer and was so happy with his story arc. I did feel like there was one too many romantic problems in the book. It was also a bit slow burn for the true romance in the book which was tough to get too.